


The Time Between

by stelliums



Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Angels, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Angst, Mentioned Riku (Kingdom Hearts), Mentioned Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Multi, Past Character Death, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 11:26:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25848772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stelliums/pseuds/stelliums
Summary: An angel’s gift bore fruit that, when shared, created an entwined destiny and everlasting rebirth. Kairi is left alone with her thoughts while destiny’s touch remoulds those dear to her.
Relationships: Kairi/Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 12





	The Time Between

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Aebriel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aebriel/gifts).



Once again, Kairi was left waiting for them, on the shores of the island that she had called home for millennia. The island was relaxing to her, the sound of the water a gentle reminder that while many things had changed, some things remained the same. Its shore stretched out into an expanse of nothingness. Eventually, she knew, the clear, bright blue sea would transition into a murky blackness. Oh, she had tried to find them there, in the realm that lay across the other end of the vast expanse of ocean, but she never had. As long as the cycle continued, their feet would never touch the fine, sand-like ash of that far-off, yet eerily close, place.

The native fruit of the island was no longer in season. Star-shaped carcasses of the fruit surrounded her. It was the damned, or blessed, fruit that had caused so much anguish and joy - she could remember that day as though it had been yesterday. She, young and foolish, had taken one of the fruits and had planted it among humans, in one of the beautiful gardens that they had crafted for themselves. Every hundred years or so, she had visited to check on the progress of the tree. In an angel’s conception of time, it grew quickly, but she had found that humans wondered why the tree hadn’t grown at all during their own, or their ancestor’s, lifetime. 

During their first encounter, Kairi found that the fruit had grown and ripened. She had been sat by the tree that she had painstakingly nurtured, only to be chased away by humans that told her that the tree was sacred. They had made their own name for the tree too, one that could be understood in their language - paopu. In their language, it meant ‘destiny tree’ or ‘binder of souls’. At the time, so long ago, she had been curious about the significance of that name. She had managed to pluck a single fruit from it’s branches, for safekeeping. While she cradled it in her arms, attempting to keep it hidden, a boy had complimented her on her talent in stealing it. She insisted that she hadn’t stolen a thing, but she had been unable to convince the boy and his friend. In exchange for keeping her safe from the authorities, she let them taste the fruit that was so sacred to their elders. 

Against her own best judgement, she had stayed with the boys in their odd walled city, guarded by armoured warriors with strange weapons unlike any that she had seen before. Their blades appeared to be keys, and some who possessed them used them for that purpose. They seemed, at first, unfit to be weapons, with their commonly unsharpened edges and often delicate design. But she grew used to this city, this world, and the company of the boys. She learned that the shorter and more outgoing of the two was known as Sora, while the white haired, more stoic youth was called Riku. Each day was spent travelling the city by rooftop, and each night was spent curled up between them, their bodies entangled like the destinies that they now shared.

If only she had known that fact the day that she had lost him.

It was the first and only lifetime that Sora had outlived his dearest friend. Kairi had staved off the condition, the genetic malfunction that caused his whitened hair and weaker form, for years after his time was supposed to end. The two would never fight side by side as warriors, as they had promised each other. Broken promises aside, she thought, she was glad that they were reborn under more peaceful times.

Despite the years, decades, centuries between the blinks of human lifetimes, Riku was one of the few constants. He was mortal, but throughout each cycle they had always managed to find each other, whether the stage was a battlefield or a coffee shop. Riku was unchanging regardless of the era that he was born into. Perhaps his use of language changed, or the way that he walked, or the people that surrounded him, but he was still undeniably Riku. The angel took comfort in the consistency.

Sora was a wild spirit, impossible to find at times, immediately close by at others. When Kairi had first met him she could swear that he should have been an angel too, with those bright, mischievous eyes. His eyes were the only signifier of who was in front of her. Unlike Riku, he burst into her life and disappeared within a blink of an eye. Even compared to a human lifetime, each time that she had met Sora, he had left them before his time. An accident, being in the wrong place at the wrong time, in some lifetimes his own recklessness and dreams of heroism. She could write a book of all of his exploits, from every life, and make a rather good living doing so. Even one of his short lifetimes was often enough for several novels.

She reached out her arms and spread her wings to embrace the breeze. It whipped through her feathers and her long, flowing hair. A longing tugged at her, a longing for someone else’s arms around her and another’s lips against her cheek. They had been lovers in many lifetimes. However different they may look from their initial encounter, she had always found her breath stolen from her each time she saw them again. Occasionally, in her darkest days, she considered it cruel of herself to steal their affections when there were others, many others, that could leave them with a legacy. Kairi had never left them with anything - they had left her, every single time. Even in her own home she felt the soulless emptiness that came with no longer having them by her side. Would the sea welcome her, if she lost the urge to swim? Was she, too, tied to them in such a way that if she tried, she would simply be reborn? Kairi often lost sight of time during these in-between times, but it had surely been a long time if those thoughts had started to creep in.

A blade appeared in her hand. It didn’t resemble a key, like those the city had used. The city had expanded now, conquered, until their warriors filled many worlds. It was a simple blade, long and gently glowing. She swung it in a wide arc to become re-accustomed to its weight. Kairi closed her eyes and swung it again, behind her. Crimson hair fell and caught in her feathers, covered the rocks and floated atop the calm ocean. Would they recognise her, instinctively, as they always had? How long would she have to wait and search to feel their warmth again? 

No matter when, the three of them always found each other. They would find each other again. It was only a matter of time.


End file.
